Yesterday's Today, Today's Tomorrow
by LissaMarie
Summary: Roundrobin WiP (Subject to change!)...After Lt. Harmon Rabb, Jr's ramp strike, his best friend since childhood, Capt. Sarah
1. Part 1

Title: Yesterday's Today, Today's Tomorrow  
  
Authors: LissaMarie (Malysa), Audrey, Pat, & Rising Sun (see each part for   
specifics and e-mail addresses)  
  
FF of Malysa is archived at http://stories.com/authors/malysa   
FF of Audrey is archived at http://www.angelfire.com/art/StardustsArt  
FF of Pat is archived at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AnniePatJAGstories  
FF of Rising Sun is archived at: http://www.geocities.com/jagrslc  
  
  
Rating: Nothing stronger than PG-13 (see each part)  
  
Spoilers: Anything having to do with Harm's vision problems, first crash,  
& family situation, and Mac's family & past.  
  
Classification: AU, A (angst), F&R (friendship&romance) H/M, flashbacks  
  
Disclaimer: If we owned JAG, do your really think we would have written  
this? If you're not sure, WE DO NOT OWN JAG! JAG belongs to DB and the   
characters are brought to life by the many terrific actors he employs.  
  
Summery: After Lt. Harmon Rabb, Jr's ramp strike, his best friend since   
childhood, Capt. Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie, remembers their past at his  
hospital bedside among other places.  
  
Authors' Notes: Will be included before and/or after each part  
  
Feedback: Love it unless otherwise noted.  
  
Archive: Ask one of us  
  
  
  
Part 1  
By LissaMarie (Malysa)  
Email: MelMarie612@aol.com  
Rating: PG, I use some bad words (Not really bad, my grandmother will read this!)  
  
***AN: I have no idea exactly what year Harm's first crash was. I'm just using educated   
guessing with math skills that I truly hate to admit that I possess. If you know the year,   
PLEASE e-mail me because this could drive me slowly insane. I think that's all. Enjoy!***  
  
12 MARCH 1991  
1845 LOCAL  
BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL  
BETHESDA, MD  
  
Captain Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie sat at her best friends bedside trying her best to   
will his eyes to open. She knew her attempt was of no value. Lieutenant Harmon   
"Harm" Rabb, Jr was the world's most stubborn person and would wake up when   
he was damn sure and ready. Maybe this rest period was for the best because when   
he woke up he was going to ask about his RIO.  
  
Mac sure as hell didn't want to be the one to have to tell him that the ramp strike had   
killed the man her best friend had considered a friend. She knew he would feel guilty.   
Maybe he should. A RIO's life was his pilot's responsibility. She would never tell Harm   
that, of course. Tact was something she had and used religiously.  
  
Looking down at her long time friend's battered face, Mac could almost imagine his   
features in an expression of complete and utter defeat, as they would be when he is   
told of the repercussions of this crash.  
  
The loss of his RIO and friend due to his inability to see the carrier clearly.  
  
The loss of his wings due to his mistake.  
  
The loss of his navy career in his eyes due to him being unable to fly.  
  
Mac realized what this would do to him. She had been with him for years.  
  
Flying in the navy had been his dream since the day she met him. She remembered   
that day with absolute clarity. She hoped that he did, too. She hoped that memories   
such as that one would be enough to bring him back to her. Reaching into her purse,   
she pulled out a wrinkled paper airplane. It was obviously old and of great value to the   
Marine Corps officer. She positioned it on Harm's pillow and kissed his forehead gently.  
  
With that, she walked slowly out of the room holding her tears at bay. 


	2. Part 2

Part 2  
By: Audrey   
Email: scullyskid83@juno.com  
Rating: PG (one bad word...and it's really not even that bad)  
  
Note: *** indicate the beginning/end of a flashback***  
  
SUMMER 1972  
ARIZONA  
  
He carefully creased the paper, making sure the edge was sharp and even.   
On the ground next to him, the ends of pieces of white paper fluttered in the   
breeze, unable to fly off thanks to the rock holding them down. The tip of his   
tongue stuck out the corner of his mouth, revealing the amount of concentration   
that was being put into the project. Finally, after minutes of careful folding and   
creasing, the 8-year old boy held up his finished work in front of him.   
  
The paper airplane didn't look to be any extraordinary thing to the common   
observer. A piece of white paper folded into a simple toy. But to the boy the   
plane carried with it his hopes, his dreams. This plane would reach his dad.   
This plane would be the one.   
  
He stood up, precious paper toy clutched gently and safely in his right hand.   
The breeze flirted with him, ruffling his hair and tugging ever so gently at his   
sleeves. Perfect. Too strong a breeze and the plane would be forced down.   
Too weak a breeze and his plane wouldn't go far. This breeze was /perfect/.  
  
For a moment, he closed his eyes, picturing himself inside his homemade   
plane. Everything was ready he was good to go. 'I'll find you, Dad.' He thought,   
and then he tossed his plane with the wind, opening his eyes to watch it fly. He   
grinned, watching the toy float higher, higher...  
  
...until it sank beyond the wall separating his yard from the next. Hopeful grin   
quickly melted into a disappointed frown. His mother's call for dinner stopped   
him from going to retrieve the plane. He'd have to wait until after dinner to   
rescue it. After all, he couldn't just leave it. It was the perfect plane. It had a   
mission to fly.  
  
With a sigh, he ran into the house to quickly wolf down his supper. More than   
once he had to be reminded of table manners, but none of that really mattered   
to him. He needed to get his plane back before dark. He rinsed off his dinner   
plate, promising his mother to do the dishes before bed, and raced out into the   
yard. A woodpile near the wall provided a stepping stool to the top of the wall.   
Peeking into the neighbors yard, he spotted his plane. In the hands of a little girl.  
  
"Hey!"  
  
She looked up at his shout, the paper plane clutched in her 4-year old hands.   
Dark eyes studied him warily; she'd seen him before, but never spoken to him.   
  
He was impatient. And she was crushing his prized plane. "That's my plane."   
He pointed out.  
  
"I'm not 'sposed to talk to strangers." Came her curt reply.  
  
He was slightly taken aback, but he only skipped a beat before replying. "I'm   
Harm. Who're you?"  
  
"Sarah."  
  
"Nice to meetcha. There, we're not strangers anymore." Harm's gaze shifted to   
his paper plane, still clutched firmly in Sarah's grasp. "Can I have my plane back   
now?"  
  
Sarah's brown eyes drifted from Harm, to the plane, and then back to Harm. "It   
landed in my yard."  
  
Harm sighed. "So? It's mine. I made it."  
  
"Make another." Sarah retorted, wandering closer to the wall to peer up at him. "You   
did a really good job on this one, you could probably do it again."  
  
Harm glanced back to the paper still pinned to the ground by the rock. He /could/   
make another plane but it would take time. He blinked and suddenly became   
aware of the quickly fading light. "No. Let me have it."  
  
"No."  
  
Harm glared down at her before shifting his gaze to the horizon. Damn it! He didn't   
have time for this. He jumped down from the wall, stalking over to his paper pile.   
  
"'Make another.'" He mimicked the girl, fuming as he began to fold another plane.   
"She doesn't know how perfect that plane is! She doesn't know anything! Stupid girls."  
  
Harm worked in silence, so angry at first that he had to restart his folding three times.   
He was beginning to make a mental list of things he wanted to tell Sarah - mean   
things - when he heard a shout come from   
Her house.  
  
"Sarah! Get OVER here!"  
  
He heard a door slam and angry shouting from inside her house, although it was   
muffled and he couldn't understand what was being said. Curious, he climbed the   
woodpile again, peering over the wall.  
  
Sarah sat below him, the paper plane clutched to her, silent tears flowing down her   
cheeks.  
  
"Sarah?" Harm was suddenly scared for the girl. "Are you ok?"  
  
His voice startled her and she jumped in surprise, then turned her tear-stained face   
his way. "Yeah." She replied softly. "I'm ok."  
  
Harm nodded, not sure if she spoke the truth or not but willing to go along with what   
she said anyway. "Hey, you can keep the plane, ok?" It seemed only nice to offer,   
and she really seemed to like it. He could always make another one. A better one.   
When she smiled at him in return, he went on. "Do you know how to make paper   
airplanes?"  
  
She shook her head, looking at the one she held in her hands.  
  
"Well," Harm said, glancing over his shoulder at his house before looking back at her.   
"Maybe you can come over tomorrow and I can show you how. And my mom makes   
really good chocolate chip cookies, so maybe she'd make some for us."  
  
Sarah's face lit up at the prospect, the tears no longer falling down her cheeks. "Really?"   
At his affirmative nod, she smiled. "Ok. Thanks."  
  
Harm shrugged. "No problem." He returned the smile, glancing over his shoulder as his   
mother called him in. "I gotta go. See you tomorrow, Sarah."  
  
"Bye, Harm!" The girl returned. "And thanks for the plane!" She watched as his slipped   
behind the wall, and then looked back down at the plane in her hands. Her fingers lightly   
caressed the paper, the folds. It was only a paper plane, but she felt like she had been   
given the world. Smiling, she practically skipped back into her house. Tomorrow couldn't   
come soon enough. 


	3. Part 3

Part 3   
By Pat   
Email: ssbpmn@aol.com  
Rating: G/PG  
  
12 MARCH 1991  
BETHESDA NAVAL  
2345 LOCAL  
  
"Captain Mackenzie you really should get some rest," the nurse told her   
softly, seeing her holding fast to Harm's hand, staring at his tightly closed   
eyes. "Better rest than you're going to get here in that hard chair."  
  
"His doctor said I didn't have to leave," Mac yelped defensively. "He said   
I could stay."  
  
"Yes of course I know that. It's written on the chart. But I'm seeing a woman   
who's been sitting here for twenty-four hours now."  
  
"Why doesn't he wake up?" Mac wailed softly, irritably brushing away a   
tear she did not want.  
  
"You know what, sometimes the body suffers an assault, both mental and   
physical, and simply shuts down for a while," Angela said quietly, watching   
her patient's monitors as she spoke. "I read the account of what happened.   
He had to have been terrified seeing the crash about to happen before his   
eyes, and then the pain of his burns. Does he know about his RIO I think it's   
called --the other guy?"  
  
"He was demanding to know, and they told him, right before he passed out,"   
she nodded. "So yeah I guess I can see that. But I know I want him to wake   
up and tell me he's OK."  
  
"You care a lot for this guy huh?"  
  
"Yes ma'am. We pretty much grew up together. Been apart some but never   
really you know."  
  
"I think I do. Come on. There's some hot food in the lounge and a shower   
and some clean hospital sweats you can slip on, and then I'm going to order   
a cot moved in here since I know you're not going to leave." Angela put a firm,   
motherly hand on her shoulder. "Hey you don't want him waking up and finding   
you half sick from exhaustion and stress. That's only going to upset him."  
  
"Put like that," Mac sighed. "OK but I'm not going far."  
  
A few minutes later she was standing under a torrent of hot water and only   
then did she give in to the tears her body was desperate to shed. Her eyes   
closed tightly and she sobbed until she could cry no more, and she sank down   
on the hard tile floor, exhausted and scared, and her mind returned to another   
time when she experienced those same emotions, except then, Harm was there   
at her side. 


	4. Part 4

Part 4   
By LissaMarie (Malysa)  
Email: MelMarie612@aol.com  
Rating: PG (They're just kids!)  
  
5 DECEMBER 1974  
1200 LOCAL  
GRAND CANYON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL  
ARIZONA  
  
Harm sat at the lunch table he and Sarah had shared for the past two years waiting for   
her to show up. It wasn't like her to be late for anything, and her showing up ten minutes   
after the lunch period had started would make it two times in one day. She had called   
his house early that morning to tell him that her mom had forgotten to wake her up, and   
that he should walk to school without her. He had walked her to school everyday since   
the first school day after they met. Of course all the eleven-year-old boys made fun of him   
for hanging out with a seven year old GIRL, but he didn't care. She was his friend, not really   
a girl, because if she was, she could be his girlfriend, and he never wanted to have one   
of those.  
  
"Sorry I'm late, Harm," his tiny friend said as she dropped her lunchbox on the table and   
plopped down in the chair next to him. She tried her best to act normal, so he wouldn't   
ask any questions. She may be only seven, but she knew Harm. He would be angry at   
her if he knew she didn't come straight to him when she had a problem.  
  
"You were crying!" he accused looking at her red rimmed eyes. He wasn't sure what   
scared him more: that fact that she had cried or that she was trying to hide it from him.   
Sarah might be kind of a girl (but not really), but she was tough and never cried. And if   
she ever did cry, she would come to him, and he would try his best to make it better. It's   
what he was supposed to do. He was going to grow up to be an officer and a gentleman   
just like his dad.  
  
"Was not," she lied horribly.  
  
"Were, too."  
  
"Was not."  
  
Were, too!"  
  
"Was not, and even if I was, it's none of your beeswax Harmon Rabb!" Sarah yelled at   
him before standing up and walking swiftly out of the cafeteria.  
  
Surprised at her sudden outburst, Harm took a few seconds before standing up to follow   
her. He ignored the giggles of the girls sitting at one table and the taunting from the boys   
at another. He sped up past the aid that tried to stop him with only one thing on his mind--  
getting to Sarah. He found her outside in the chilly front courtyard of their school. And she   
was crying.  
  
Harm walked up to her slowly, whispering her name. She only sniffled and told him to go   
away. He would have none of it.  
  
"Sarah, please look at me," he whispered, and with a caring maturity probably beyond   
his years, he unzipped the sweatshirt-jacket his mother had made him put on before he   
left the house, took it off, and put it on her shoulders.  
  
"Thanks," she mumbled wrapping it around herself tightly. She looked up to see him   
shuffling his feet in front of her. She wiped her tears from she face and tried to smile at   
him. "Lunch is over."  
  
"What happened?" He was obviously ignoring her attempts to avoid the topic.  
  
"My mom fell down and hurt herself. She's in the hospital," she told him looking down so   
he wouldn't see she was lying.  
  
"Will she be okay?"   
  
"She should be. Can I stay at your house tonight? We don't have school tomorrow."  
  
"Yeah. Sure. You can keep the jacket, too, `cause I really don't like it anyway."  
  
"Thank you, Harm," she reached out for his hand, and he pulled her up. She wrapped her   
small arms around his neck, standing on her tiptoes to hug him tight.   
  
Harm and Sarah walked back into the building together. She with a renewed feeling of   
hope knowing that he would not abandon her if she needed him, and he with a whole   
new view of his best friend. In Harm's new view, Sarah was a girl. Maybe that wasn't   
such a bad thing after all.  
*** 


	5. The Rest--URL fixed

Hi!  
  
Sorry this was wrong last time!  
  
Since this fic is so long (you'll see what I mean) I'd find it much easier   
and more time efficient to just post it to my web site as a whole. I'll   
make a note of updates at the top of the page in big red letters. Sorry for   
any trouble that this might have caused. We have over 30 parts so far and   
are still continuing. It can be found here:  
  
http://www.geocities.com/auharmmacfic/LissaMarie/RR-YTTT.html  
  
Thanks for reading! I hope you come and visit! ~~~Lissa 


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